0:03

Throughout the 50 days of

0:05

Easter, sacred music for the world. LutheranPublicRadio

0:09

.org

0:12

Listen 24 -7

0:14

to sacred music

0:16

for the Easter

0:18

season. LPR, LutheranPublicRadio .org

0:29

I'm Dr. Russell Dawn, President

0:32

of Concordia University, Chicago. I'm thrilled

0:34

to announce the Prepared to

0:36

Serve Church Professional Guarantee. Any

0:38

new student in one of CUC's

0:40

six churchwork programs will pay

0:42

no more than $5 ,000 in

0:44

annual tuition and required fees guaranteed.

0:47

Prepared to Serve is a donor -funded

0:49

initiative. Support future churchwork

0:51

students by becoming a funding

0:53

partner at CUChicago .edu slash

0:55

Prepared to Serve. Concordia

0:58

University, Chicago. With Christ at the center,

1:00

we stand tall for the church. The

1:38

Lutheran public radio choir with the

1:40

Easter hymns, Sons and Daughters of

1:43

the King. Easter is of course

1:45

the celebration of Christ's resurrection, and

1:47

it can't be contained to just

1:49

one Sunday. In fact, every Sunday

1:51

is a little Easter. Greetings and

1:53

welcome to Issues, etc., coming to you

1:56

from the studios of Lutheran Public Radio

1:58

in Collinsville, Illinois. I'm Todd Wilkin.

2:00

Thanks for tuning us in. Pastor

2:02

Sean Denzer will walk us through the

2:04

proppers for the first Sunday in the

2:06

Easter season after the Easter celebration, according

2:08

to the three -year electionary. In the

2:10

next hour, in issues, etc., Encore will

2:12

study the hymn, At the Lamb's High

2:15

Feast, we sing with Dr. Arthur Just

2:17

of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Pastor

2:20

Sean Denzer is Director of Worship for the

2:22

Lutheran Church, Missouri Senate. Sean, welcome

2:24

back. Great to be

2:26

back. Blessed Easter. Why do Despite the

2:28

fact that the world quickly forgets

2:30

Easter even occurred, for all

2:32

the wrong reasons, and much of

2:34

American Christianity moves on from Easter as

2:36

well, why do we celebrate it

2:39

as an entire season? Well,

2:41

it's the hub and center of our

2:43

faith. Really, so much has happened in

2:45

the past week. Holy Week and Easter,

2:47

you know, for this purpose, are together

2:49

as the beating heart of Christianity, the

2:51

beating heart of the Church here, and

2:53

the date of Easter in particular kind

2:55

of sets the whole calendar in motion

2:57

and figures out all the days. That's

2:59

just the way it's been arranged for

3:01

many years, at least here in the

3:03

Western Church. But as in

3:05

the West, as in the East, we

3:07

recognize that Easter is so significant,

3:09

the fact that our Lord is risen,

3:11

that we don't contain it to

3:14

one day, as you said very well.

3:16

In some ways it's no different

3:18

in fact that long history of the

3:20

church. It's always been called Sunday

3:22

after Easter. It's only recently

3:24

in the last 50 years

3:26

that the liturgologists have given it

3:29

a new name. They've determined

3:31

to call them Sundays of Easter.

3:34

And their rationale for doing that is

3:36

to try and draw attention to just

3:38

what you're saying, that Easter is so

3:40

important that it has a whole season,

3:42

that it is in fact not just

3:44

a week of celebrating our Lord's resurrection,

3:46

but a week of weeks. There's seven

3:48

weeks full of Easter. And that's on

3:51

purpose. It takes us all the way

3:53

to the Feast of Pentecost, which again

3:55

is in the Bible right after the

3:57

40 days that takes us to the

3:59

Feast of Ascension that we also celebrate

4:01

kind of in that chronological time. And

4:03

so as a result, you can see

4:06

we've got 40 days out ahead of us

4:08

till Lent, where we got 40 days

4:10

out behind us there to the Ascension, and

4:12

likewise then 50 days to the full

4:14

season of Easter. And even our hymns

4:16

recognize this, I think in a couple of weeks,

4:18

if you haven't sung it already, you'll probably be

4:20

singing, Come ye faithful, raise

4:22

the strain, the hymn by John

4:25

of Damascus, and that hymn even

4:27

mentions that it's the queen of

4:29

seasons, this time when we are

4:31

continuing to commemorate Easter. In

4:33

the three -year lectionary, it draws

4:35

this out all the more

4:37

by giving us an opportunity here,

4:39

an extended preaching of

4:41

Christ's resurrection, especially as we look

4:43

at our Old Testament readings

4:46

that shift to readings from the

4:48

book of Acts, which gives

4:50

us the opportunity here, Peter and

4:52

Paul and the other apostles

4:54

preaching about Jesus' resurrection and talking

4:56

about it. It also pushes

4:58

probably the one Sunday of the

5:00

year everybody knows by its

5:02

common name, Good Shepherd Sunday, back

5:04

one Sunday, and that's part

5:06

of the effort to have just at

5:08

least one more appearance of Jesus on

5:10

Easter throughout the season. It's such an

5:12

important event. As Christ said, and we

5:15

heard just a couple weeks ago, if

5:17

Christ is not raised, then our faith is

5:19

in vain. That's why it's worth

5:21

celebrating for more than just one day. What

5:25

connecting themes and gospel themes will

5:27

we find in our propers? We

5:29

have a lot. This is one of

5:31

my favorite Sundays at the church here in

5:33

the Anglican church. It has the name

5:35

Low Sunday, which I'm not sure this is

5:37

really the reason, but probably because of

5:39

the low attendance. Everybody's had a blast on

5:41

Easter and then they don't show up

5:43

the next Sunday, which is very sad. This

5:46

Sunday is so important to the heart

5:48

of the life of Christianity that I really

5:50

don't think anyone can afford to miss

5:52

it. Year C continues it. That's kind of

5:54

pattern of being the year that is

5:56

most like the traditional historic lectionary of the

5:58

church. So you have so many of

6:00

those themes at work today. First of all,

6:02

the word of God and the testimony

6:05

of our God, which is for our salvation.

6:07

This comes out so clearly. in the

6:09

beloved intro it like newborn infants crave the

6:11

pure spiritual milk of God's Word and

6:13

grow up into that salvation in Christ Jesus.

6:16

So that would be the second

6:18

theme actually that really ties throughout

6:20

the day growth and persistence in

6:22

Christ perhaps even persistence in the

6:24

face of persecution or accusation as

6:26

we'll see especially in the reading

6:28

from Acts and a little bit

6:30

hinted at in our reading from

6:32

Revelation our epistle for the week.

6:34

We want to remain in Christ

6:36

Jesus because he's our King, we've

6:38

become his priests, we are gathered

6:40

around close to him. And

6:42

that really sets us up then for

6:44

the third theme that is maybe even more

6:46

primary, and that is the theme of

6:48

Sunday. You mentioned in your introduction

6:51

that every Sunday is kind of like

6:53

a mini Easter. It might be more accurate

6:55

kind of in the way it came

6:57

to be to say it the other way

6:59

and we'll see that in fact right

7:01

in our gospel reading that because our Lord

7:03

Jesus Christ rose on Sunday, Sunday

7:05

continues then to be the

7:07

day that Christians are gathering in

7:10

particular to commemorate His resurrection,

7:12

to celebrate His resurrection, to be

7:14

gathered around the things of

7:16

God in His Word and in

7:18

His holy sacraments. And

7:20

so in a way that really is the

7:22

theme of today too is why Sunday.

7:24

Why does it matter so much? The

7:26

Lord's Day, the first day of the

7:28

week. This is the perpetual celebration of our

7:31

Lord's resurrection now. And with

7:33

Thomas as our main character in the Gospel,

7:35

I think it's fair to say this is

7:37

a go to church Sunday. Hopefully you're

7:39

not preaching to just the choir today. Our

7:42

intro, it is a combination

7:44

of verse Peter 2, verses

7:46

2 and 3 and Psalm

7:48

105. Like newborn

7:50

infants, long for the

7:52

pure spiritual milk that by it you

7:54

may grow up into salvation. If indeed

7:56

you've tasted that the Lord is good, O

7:59

give thanks to the Lord, call upon

8:01

his name, make known his deeds among the

8:03

peoples, sing to him, sing praises

8:05

to him, tell of all his wondrous

8:07

works. glory in his holy name,

8:09

let the hearts of those who seek

8:11

the Lord rejoice. Seek the

8:13

Lord and his strength. Seek his

8:15

presence continually. Remember the

8:18

wondrous works that he has done,

8:20

his miracles, the judgments he uttered. He

8:22

remembers his covenant forever, the

8:24

word that he commanded for a

8:26

thousand generations. So,

8:29

okay, in Latin,

8:31

this is quasi -modogenity

8:33

Sunday. Yes, it's the

8:35

Sunday after which the hunchback of

8:37

Notre Dame is named, but

8:39

that word quasi -modo just means like

8:41

as or in the same way

8:43

as newborn infants love milk. That's

8:45

how dedicated and devoted we are

8:47

to be to God's word. I

8:49

think it's helpful just to think

8:51

about the origins of Lent especially

8:53

as a catechetical time for the

8:56

church or a place of restoring

8:58

penitence to full fellowship in the

9:00

church. What then happens

9:02

after Easter? Are they just to

9:04

disappear again? Go away. No. Something

9:07

so great has changed. We have

9:09

disciplined ourselves for so many days, not

9:11

for no fruit, not so that

9:13

we can go back to living and

9:15

swelling and now we can be

9:17

sinners again or something. This has changed

9:19

us. We've come through the death

9:21

and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We're all

9:24

kind of remembering our birth. our

9:26

new birth, we should say, through

9:28

holy baptism into Christ Jesus. And so

9:30

this Sunday is focused on that,

9:32

especially with this intro, urging us to

9:34

continue on to grow in this

9:36

and not to fall away from it,

9:39

but to continually desire after the

9:41

thing that is truly nourishing. And thus

9:43

we have it as an admonition.

9:45

It's an imperative. Hey, long for this,

9:47

right? Desire it, seek after it. Interesting

9:50

word here, right? We say

9:52

the pure spiritual milk. That

9:54

word spiritual is related to the word

9:56

of God or to the rationality of

9:58

God, the logos. It's

10:00

used, in fact, also in

10:02

one other place in Romans

10:04

12, when Paul talks about

10:07

offering our bodies as living

10:09

sacrifices, he says, this is

10:11

your spiritual act of

10:13

worship, your spiritual, your worldly,

10:15

rational, reasonable worship. Liturgy

10:17

even is the word. Why

10:20

is this word used here? It's kind

10:22

of a hard word to translate into

10:24

English. Certainly, it's to

10:26

distinguish this milk that we're after from

10:28

the literal milk. This is an analogy

10:30

to young children who are eager to

10:33

have food, of course, and they'll cry

10:35

for it or whatever it takes to

10:37

get mom to pay attention. In

10:39

a sense, of course, our spiritual

10:41

worship that Paul's talking about in Romans

10:43

12 is not really a liturgy,

10:45

right? Our offering of our bodies as

10:47

living sacrifices is not a matter

10:49

of following the service or singing a

10:51

hymn. It's mostly talking about our

10:53

entire life of good works and confessing

10:55

Christ Jesus, most of it

10:57

outside of the service. But what

11:00

I love about this word is

11:02

it's more than just spiritual as

11:04

in kind of metaphorical. We're talking

11:06

about something that is deeply connected

11:08

to the Word of God, to

11:10

being enlightened by His Word and

11:12

growing up into salvation. And

11:14

that's why our version actually has

11:16

a little addition in that, desire

11:18

the pure spiritual milk of the

11:20

Word, that we would

11:22

see this as speaking about God's

11:24

word as the thing that nourishes

11:26

us, that we're going to be devoted to

11:28

it. We'll see this in the psalm in just a second.

11:31

Also, that word pure is without

11:33

any deceit, and that's speaking

11:35

against the world's sort of reason

11:38

and logic and word, which

11:40

is a deceitful one. We have

11:42

been redeemed from that. We've

11:44

come out of that world into

11:46

the Lord's church, into His

11:48

kingdom, and we want to live

11:50

accordingly. Normally,

11:53

the intro didn't include that last part of

11:55

the verse. It's interesting that in your

11:57

sea we get to have it. If indeed,

11:59

you've tasted that the Lord is good. What

12:01

I love about this is it sets

12:04

up the fact that even though we've been

12:06

forgiven in Christ Jesus, even though, yes,

12:08

we've celebrated Easter, what could possibly top it,

12:10

it kind of seems like. you know,

12:12

why do we need to go back to

12:14

church after experiencing this, right? Well,

12:16

the goal is, if you have tasted of

12:18

the Lord, you don't go back to other stuff.

12:20

You don't go for the cheap stuff anymore. You

12:23

also have to have more. That's the way

12:25

it is with Christ. It's never that we've

12:27

had a little bit, so we're satisfied, but

12:29

it's always, I seek more from Him. I

12:31

cling to Him all the more. And this

12:33

is the way for them, for Christians as

12:36

well. As we look into

12:38

our Psalm then, not only are we

12:40

singing praises, we're rejoicing in

12:42

Him. All of that's

12:44

wonderful and fitting here, as we're

12:46

just a couple days, really,

12:48

just seven days away from Easter.

12:51

But we want to look now especially at

12:53

these phrases in here that are talking

12:55

about how we're going to continue to tell

12:57

about His works, right? Those

12:59

who rejoice in the Lord are

13:01

those who seek Him, who

13:03

want to be close to his

13:05

name, want to find him

13:07

in his strength, and continually remain

13:09

in his presence. We're

13:12

going to see that quite literally

13:14

there with the attitude of the

13:16

church in Acts, in Acts chapter

13:18

5. But we want to see

13:20

that this should be our attitude

13:22

now also in this life, not

13:24

that we're going to be done

13:26

with Christ and move past him.

13:28

but in fact that we're going

13:30

to continue in Him always. And

13:33

so I think it's especially fitting that

13:35

we see right after Easter, the most important

13:37

day, the foundation and fountainhead of all

13:39

our worship services, you might say, all of

13:41

our Sundays. In fact, this

13:44

repeated, continual, nonstop gathering around

13:46

Him is the center of what

13:48

we're doing, that we're growing

13:50

up into Him and that we're

13:52

continuing in Him always. Pastor

13:55

Sean Denzer is our guest. We

13:57

are looking forward to the second

13:59

Sunday, according to a three -year

14:01

electionary in the season of Easter. Pastor

14:04

Denzer will take us into the

14:06

collect, which has a connection to

14:08

our intro and that spiritual milk

14:11

next. Throughout

14:19

the 50 days of Easter, sacred

14:22

music for the world. LutheranPublicRadio

14:25

.org Listen 24

14:27

-7 to sacred

14:29

music for

14:31

the Easter season.

14:33

LPR, LutheranPublicRadio .org

14:35

In Colossians 3, St.

14:37

Paul says, Let

14:40

the Word of Christ

14:42

dwell in you

14:44

richly. Don't take our

14:46

Lutheran Divine Service

14:49

for granted. From start

14:51

to finish, it's

14:53

almost nothing but the

14:55

Bible in preaching,

14:57

prayer and song. God's

15:00

Word is meant to admonish and

15:02

forgive us and teach us for

15:04

a life of joy and thanksgiving.

15:06

For more about the richness of

15:08

God's Word, Lutherans might just take

15:11

for granted. Visit us at LCMS

15:13

.org slash worship. You're

15:19

listening to issues, etc. Memoria

15:27

College offers master's level courses

15:29

in the great books. These

15:31

online courses are a place for

15:33

thoughtful discussion of philosophy, literature,

15:35

theology, and more. It's

15:38

never too late to receive a

15:40

classical education. To learn

15:42

more, visit memoriacollege .org. Memoria College.

15:44

Encounter the great books and

15:46

enter the great conversation. memoriacollege

15:49

.org. Your hearing

15:51

is taken for granted until you don't

15:54

have it. The children at St. Martin

15:56

Lutheran School for the Deaf in Dearborn,

15:58

Michigan will never experience what it's like

16:00

to hear. Never. St.

16:03

Martin Lutheran School for the

16:05

Deaf is the only school

16:07

for the deaf in the

16:09

Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. Learn

16:11

how you can help them

16:13

live and grow in their

16:15

education and their love of

16:17

Jesus at smlid .org or

16:19

call 248 -525 -2303. St. Martin

16:21

Lutheran School for the Deaf. Welcome

16:35

back to Issues, et cetera. I'm Todd

16:37

Wilkin. We're looking forward to Sunday morning, according

16:39

to a three -year electionary, Pastor Sean Denzer,

16:41

Director of Worship for the Lutheran Church,

16:43

Missouri Synod. Sean,

16:45

take us into the collect. It

16:49

reads, Almighty God, grant that we

16:51

have celebrated the Lord's resurrection. May, by

16:53

your grace, confess in

16:55

our life and conversation that Jesus

16:57

is Lord and God. Through

17:00

the same Jesus Christ our Lord. It's

17:03

an excellent connection here to the

17:05

spiritual milk, to the growing up,

17:08

offering those spiritual sacrifices

17:10

also, right, that we

17:12

would not only celebrate

17:14

this one -time resurrection festival,

17:16

but that in fact it would shape our whole

17:18

lives and the way we speak and act

17:20

and live. This is the

17:22

second time now we've had the

17:24

church service referenced. in

17:26

connection to our collect. I think

17:29

that's a little strange that the

17:31

liturgy would be so self -referential,

17:33

right? To our modern years,

17:35

especially this sounds weird because

17:37

we are so influenced passively by

17:39

radical Protestantism and they always

17:42

dispense with the church here, right?

17:44

They throw out the wisdom

17:46

of past generations of Christians and

17:48

that unfortunately puts us under

17:50

the tyranny of our own pastor's

17:53

genius alone. For

17:55

them, maybe they want to tie in

17:57

with kind of the secular observance of Easter,

17:59

and so they do observe that day,

18:01

if nothing else that follows after it. The

18:04

point of these collics, both on

18:06

Easter and now today, is A,

18:08

to reflect the Gospel reading

18:10

where we see the people of

18:12

God, the disciples, the women

18:14

gathered together with Jesus Christ who

18:16

is present among them. I

18:18

mean, literally fulfilling his own promise that where

18:20

two or three are gathered in my name, there

18:22

I am in the midst of them. And

18:25

delightfully, we get to see what he's there to

18:27

do to sow peace and forgiveness. which

18:29

shows also in these collics that

18:31

the celebration of Jesus' resurrection is

18:33

not frivolous or useless. All

18:36

of our particulars of liturgy,

18:38

of traditions, our Lutheran confessions

18:40

teach that they're not, for the

18:42

most part, things that are commanded or

18:44

even forbidden by Christ. He

18:46

hasn't said you have to worship

18:48

on Sunday. He hasn't changed the Sabbath

18:50

day into Sunday. The Church,

18:52

of course, has freedom. How

18:54

would she use that freedom, though?

18:56

to establish something so that what

18:58

is not free for us, which

19:01

is we're not free to choose

19:03

not to acknowledge Christ or not

19:05

to believe or celebrate or confess

19:07

His resurrection. Therefore, we

19:09

have days to do it. Not

19:12

surprisingly, the Church has followed the

19:14

pattern that we see laid out in

19:16

today's Gospel, and even in our

19:18

Revelation reading today, that the Lord's

19:20

day is the day that He is risen. This

19:23

is the day that the Lord has made. Let

19:25

us rejoice and be

19:27

glad in it. We're really

19:30

taking Psalm 118 as

19:32

our kickoff verse, and

19:34

I think it's a totally wise and

19:36

right thing for the Church to do,

19:38

and it would be outrageous for somebody

19:40

to change that. Famously,

19:43

the Church has had a disagreement

19:45

on which particular day, which

19:47

particular Sunday is going to be

19:50

the celebration of the Lord's

19:52

resurrection proper. I mean,

19:54

it is not surprising, in a sense, to

19:56

find this to be such an agonizing

19:58

disagreement in the Church's history. We really do

20:00

want to have that in common. It's

20:02

at the heart of everything we believe. there's

20:05

so much to recommend, you

20:07

know, as our Missouri Synod

20:09

forefathers recognized as they

20:11

wrote our original constitutions, that

20:13

we actually desire to

20:15

strive to have uniformity as

20:17

much as possible in

20:19

worship. It's not because these, this

20:21

is the essential unity of the

20:23

church, but it's because it gives us

20:25

so much of a benefit that,

20:27

you know, all of our flags and

20:29

our symbols are pointing in the

20:31

same direction just as our teaching and

20:33

belief points in the same direction.

20:35

You know that old saying, the law

20:37

of prayer tends to also shape

20:39

and form your law of belief as

20:41

well. But even so,

20:44

in and of itself, the observation

20:46

that we celebrate Easter on this

20:48

day and the Eastern Church celebrates

20:50

it on a different day, it

20:52

doesn't destroy fellowship. Regardless,

20:54

we want these celebrations, like Easter,

20:56

like the Sunday after Easter

20:58

today, to be profitable. Church is

21:00

profitable to us beyond just

21:02

the limits of the intro at

21:04

the beginning and the benediction

21:06

at the end. That doesn't mean

21:08

you dispense with churches because

21:11

it's a means to some other

21:13

end. No, the means of

21:15

salvation that are given in our

21:17

church services, they refresh the

21:19

whole person so that they live

21:21

and they grow as the

21:23

Lord's own. So again, this collect,

21:25

which talks about our life

21:27

and conversation, is dealing with

21:29

both the practical and the existential.

21:31

What are we going to do,

21:34

but also who are we in

21:36

Christ Jesus? The original text

21:38

is, let us hold these

21:40

pascal mysteries fast in life

21:42

and in conversation, or maybe

21:44

even a clear translation, in

21:46

conduct and in life. The

21:49

means to do this are

21:51

God's largesse, His fullness, His generosity

21:53

that we have kind of

21:55

retranslated here as His grace. And

21:58

our modern version then has just added

22:00

one little bit of substance to what it

22:02

is we're holding fast, namely that we're

22:04

going to hold it fast by confessing it,

22:06

by speaking it truthfully. And

22:08

very specifically, what are we going to

22:10

say? Right, that Christ is Lord and

22:12

God, which is a wonderful echo of

22:14

what we'll hear in the Gospel reading

22:16

of St. Thomas. Old

22:19

Testament reading Acts 5 beginning

22:21

at verse 12 Now many signs

22:23

and wonders were regularly done

22:25

among the people by the hands

22:27

of the apostles and They

22:29

were all together in Solomon's portico

22:31

none of the rest dare

22:33

join them but the people held

22:35

them in high esteem And

22:37

more than ever, believers were added to

22:39

the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

22:41

so that they even carried out the

22:43

sick into the streets and laid them on

22:45

cots and mats, that as Peter

22:48

came by, at least his shadow might

22:50

fall on some of them. The

22:52

people also gathered from the towns around

22:54

Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with

22:56

unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

22:59

But the high priest rose up in all

23:01

those with him that is the party of

23:03

the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they

23:05

arrested the apostles and put them in

23:08

public prison. During the night,

23:10

an angel of the Lord opened the

23:12

prison doors and brought them out and said,

23:14

Go, stand in the temple and speak

23:16

to the people all the words of this

23:18

life. And when they heard

23:20

this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began

23:22

to teach. Now, when the high priests

23:24

came and those who were with him, they

23:26

called together the council and the Senate of

23:28

Israel and sent to the prison to have

23:30

them brought. But when the officers

23:32

came, they did not find them in the prison. So

23:34

they returned and reported, we found the

23:37

prison securely locked, the guards standing at

23:39

the doors. And when we opened them, we

23:41

found no one inside. Now, when

23:43

the captain of the temple and the chief

23:45

priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed

23:47

about them, wondering what this could come to.

23:49

And someone came and told them, look, the men

23:51

you put in prison are standing in the temple

23:54

and teaching the people. And

23:56

the captain with the officers went and brought

23:58

them, not by force, for they were

24:00

afraid of being stoned by the people. And

24:02

when they had brought them, they set

24:05

them before the council and the high

24:07

priest questioned them, saying, we strictly charged

24:09

you not to teach in his name,

24:12

yet here you filled Jerusalem with your teaching and

24:14

you intend to bring this man's blood on

24:16

us. But Peter and the

24:18

apostles answered, we must obey God

24:20

rather than men. The God of

24:22

our fathers raised Jesus whom you

24:24

killed by hanging him on a

24:26

tree God Exalted him at his

24:28

right hand as leader and savior

24:30

to give repentance to Israel and

24:32

forgiveness of sins And we're witnesses

24:34

to these things so is the

24:36

Holy Spirit whom God is given

24:38

to those who obey him All

24:41

right, notice Solomon's portico. This

24:43

is the region around Herod's temple

24:46

proper So they're gathered around

24:48

the temple and not in it

24:50

interestingly, but very close to

24:52

it, right? And it's not

24:54

the temple shadow that is doing a

24:56

wonderful miracles at this point It is

24:58

even Peter's shadow that is healing people

25:00

with the same sort of power that

25:03

we observed with Christ himself It's

25:05

obvious then why the high priest

25:07

rises up and is angry, right?

25:09

They had just put Jesus to

25:11

death not that long ago. Now

25:13

this entourage, this whole group of

25:15

people is growing and they are

25:17

sort of overshadowing the temple's importance,

25:19

it seems. And they throw

25:21

him in jail. And of

25:23

course, the angel of the Lord comes

25:25

and rescues them in this miraculous way,

25:27

right? That the doors are even locked

25:29

after them and nobody even knows they've

25:31

left until, you know, halfway through the

25:34

next day. After this jailbreak,

25:36

the anger has brought them into

25:38

prison, but instead they are led

25:40

to go into the temple by

25:42

God's angel and to proclaim a

25:44

wonderful phrase, proclaim this life. What

25:46

is this life? It's capitalized in

25:48

my Bible, which I think is

25:50

great. Christ is the way and

25:52

the truth and the life. but

25:54

also it's speaking about the new way

25:56

of life that is given in Christ Jesus,

25:58

which you see displayed, people hanging on

26:01

the words of the apostles, devoted

26:03

to their teaching like we heard back in

26:05

Acts chapter 2, and that's going

26:07

on there all around the temple. It's

26:09

kind of a comedy here, right,

26:11

of errors showing all the political

26:13

concerns of the council. We see

26:15

them acting nefariously, locking people up,

26:17

kind of extending the limits of

26:19

their authority to do this. and

26:22

all of their political concerns are

26:24

outweighed by this, right? Their anger

26:26

and their zeal to punish is

26:28

huge, and yet they have to

26:30

temper it when they see that

26:33

the crowds respect Peter, even if

26:35

they're not joining them, but certainly

26:37

those who have joined him. Their

26:40

work on Christ. Think about all of

26:42

the plot that they had, which we heard

26:44

on Good Friday and all throughout the week

26:46

and the passions. All of that has been

26:48

undone now by the resurrection, and worse, it

26:51

has not succeeded, right? They

26:53

are losing their grip on authority.

26:56

And now it's showing in kind of the

26:58

silliness that they're left wondering, how can we

27:00

bring them out of the prison? It turns

27:02

out they've been teaching all day in the

27:04

temple. Now, it's

27:07

interesting the statement they make, right? Stop

27:09

preaching in his name. This

27:11

man's blood, right, is going to

27:13

be brought onto us. They're worried

27:16

about Rome getting mad and assaulting

27:18

Jerusalem, or they're worried about some

27:20

kind of guilt being thrown on

27:22

them, they really should

27:24

remember what they said when they called

27:26

for Jesus' death. They said, let

27:28

this man's blood be on us and

27:30

on our children. They did that

27:32

brazenly. They were so convinced of their

27:34

actions being righteous. The

27:36

apostles, though, have a different aim.

27:39

They want to bring Christ's salvation,

27:41

his blood for the sake of

27:43

salvation, on everyone, including these, if

27:45

only they would listen. Now

27:47

the charge, right? They said,

27:49

hey, we already told you, don't

27:51

preach in Jesus' name, in

27:53

His name. That's the thing that's

27:55

the problem. And that's what

27:57

leads Peter with the rest of the

27:59

disciples to say, we have to obey

28:01

God rather than men. Now, of course,

28:03

there are plenty of things that we

28:06

obey, that we listen to from other

28:08

people. But when it comes to this

28:10

contradiction, right, we have to

28:12

choose God over men, if there's ever that

28:14

kind of a contradiction. And

28:16

the reason is there's no other name

28:18

by which we can be saved other than

28:20

Jesus Christ. This is why

28:22

we're so insistent, by the way, on

28:24

prayer in the name of Jesus. We

28:27

don't just say generic prayers. All

28:29

of our collics end through Jesus

28:31

Christ, our Lord, or some longer

28:33

termination. Even our little common

28:35

prayers, we always say in Jesus' name. This

28:38

is why. And it's a good thing to be

28:40

this stubborn about it, even. Now,

28:42

I suppose you could say it's a matter

28:44

of political rights or free speech. I

28:46

should be able to say whatever words I

28:48

want. This is not the

28:50

tactic that Peter takes, right?

28:52

It's simply the command of God

28:54

that can't be. ignored. It's

28:56

got to be heeded. We're not

28:58

free to suppress the truth

29:00

for the sake of congeniality. Certainly

29:03

not free to suppress the

29:05

truth for the sake of saving

29:07

our own hides, as in

29:09

the case here of going to jail,

29:11

for example. And the

29:13

end result then is that really the

29:15

Pharisees, the Sadducees, this Council of

29:17

Sanhedrin, they're the ones who end up

29:19

being shamed by all of this,

29:21

right? This is the Lord's own doing.

29:23

This is the Holy Spirit's own

29:25

doing, Peter says. But notice,

29:27

the purpose is not really to leave

29:29

people in shame or to condemn them.

29:31

Actually, it's to give repentance for the

29:33

forgiveness of sins, a very important phrase

29:35

that we will hear in a moment

29:37

in our Gospel. We

29:40

are looking forward to the

29:42

second Sunday of Easter, your

29:44

link to issues, et cetera.

29:46

I'm Todd Wilkin. Our guest

29:48

is Pastor Sean Denzer, Director

29:50

of Worship for the Lutheran

29:52

Church, Missouri Synod. LCMS Worship

29:54

has produced free resources on

29:56

hymnody, liturgy, and the lectionary.

29:58

You'll find them at lcms

30:00

.org slash worship, lcms .org slash

30:02

worship. We'll get into our

30:04

Psalm 148 next. Thy

30:14

strong word, God's word is

30:16

our great heritage. Almighty Father, bless

30:18

the word. Hi, this is

30:20

Pastor Will Whedon inviting you to

30:22

join us for our hymnsing

30:24

at the 2025 Issues, etc. Making

30:26

the Case Conference. This year's

30:28

theme, The Word of God. Making

30:30

the Case is Friday, July

30:32

18 and Saturday, July 19 at

30:34

Concordia University, Chicago.

30:37

Find out more

30:39

and register at

30:41

issuesetc .org or by

30:43

calling 618 -223 -8385.

30:47

When Jesus walked alongside the disciples on

30:49

the road to Emmaus after his

30:51

resurrection, he interpreted to them in all

30:53

the scriptures the things concerning himself.

30:55

Pick up a copy of the April

30:57

issue of the Lutheran Witness to

30:59

go on a walk through Holy Week

31:01

guided by the Old Testament. In

31:03

it, you'll find reflections and thoughts for

31:05

every day of Holy Week, cph .org

31:07

slash witness to subscribe or witness .lsms

31:09

.org to learn more. The Lutheran Witness,

31:11

helping you learn to interpret the

31:14

world from a Lutheran perspective. The

31:16

Lutheran Church Missouri Senate cares

31:18

deeply for those who protect our

31:20

nation. Are you or a

31:22

loved one currently serving? Ministry to

31:24

the Armed Forces would like

31:27

to help. We provide devotional literature

31:29

to encourage faith. Send your

31:31

mailing address to LCMSchaps at LCMS

31:33

.org or call us at 314

31:35

-996 -1337. Those in uniform are

31:37

comforted with Psalm 28. The Lord

31:39

is my strength and my

31:41

shield. My heart trusts in Him

31:43

and He helps me. If

31:47

you are in the Dallas area and are

31:49

looking for preaching that is faithful to the

31:51

Scriptures, reverent worship,

31:53

rich hymnody, and faithful

31:56

administration of Christ's sacraments, then

31:58

we invite you to join us at Faith

32:00

Lutheran Church in Wiley, Texas. The

32:03

congregation at Faith in Wiley rejoices

32:05

to celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday

32:07

beginning at 9 .30, followed

32:09

by Sunday School and Adult Bible

32:11

Class. We are located

32:13

at 615 Parker Road, Visit us

32:16

on the web at faithlutheranwiley .org.

32:18

The peace of Christ be

32:20

with you. We like

32:22

our crosses full and our

32:24

tombs empty. You're listening

32:26

to issues, etc. Is

32:28

it hard? Yes. Will it

32:30

challenge you? Absolutely. Is

32:33

it a blessing from God for you

32:35

and those you will serve without question? Dr.

32:37

Lawrence Rast, President Emeritus and

32:39

Professor of Historical Theology at

32:42

Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne,

32:44

Indiana. The pastoral ministry

32:46

is all of these things, and

32:48

that's why Concordia Theological Seminary

32:50

exists to form servants in Jesus

32:52

Christ who teach the faithful,

32:55

reach the lost, and care for

32:57

all. Men from all

32:59

over the world with a

33:01

variety of unique backgrounds come to

33:03

our campus to receive faithful

33:05

training that will equip them for

33:07

the challenging but blessed work

33:09

of serving as pastors in Christ's

33:11

Church. Learn more

33:14

about studying for the

33:16

vocation of pastor

33:18

at ctsfw .edu or

33:20

call 1 -800 -481 -2155

33:22

Christ -Centered Worship, Confessional

33:24

Theology, Lutheran Community, Concordia

33:27

Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne,

33:29

Indiana. Welcome

33:40

back to Issues, et cetera. I'm

33:42

Todd Wilken, Pastor Sean Denzer is our

33:44

guest. He's walking us through the

33:46

properties for the second Sunday of Easter.

33:49

So Sean, our Psalm is

33:52

Psalm 148. Take us into

33:54

that Psalm of praise. Yeah,

33:56

I'm gonna skip reading it just for the

33:58

sake of time. The psalm is

34:00

a general praise psalm. We're still in

34:02

the octave of Easter here, joys

34:04

on our lips. It's totally legitimate to

34:06

be praising him. And it's

34:08

kind of like the song of the three

34:10

young men. We're calling on all of creation, sun

34:12

and moon, the sea

34:15

creatures, mountains, fruit trees, kings

34:17

and all the people to praise him

34:19

and to acknowledge the Lord. the name

34:21

of the Lord in particular, I can

34:23

hear that that name was so important

34:26

in our Acts reading. Also,

34:28

just to see, right, it is

34:30

a joy for those who know Christ

34:32

and what He's done for them

34:34

to praise Him, to be in subjection

34:36

to Him, to be in submission

34:38

to Him, is to be His subjects

34:40

like in a triumphant nation, right?

34:42

To be part of His kingdom is

34:44

a delightful thing. For those who

34:46

oppose him, it has a little different

34:48

character. They will be brought into

34:50

subjection under him, whether willing or not.

34:52

I think also of what Jesus

34:54

said in Holy Week, right? If these

34:56

children were silent, even the stones

34:58

would cry out. And so this sense

35:00

is here in the psalm as

35:02

well. Now, the Lord here has a

35:04

name which alone is exalted, and

35:06

Lord in the Old Testament, as you

35:08

probably know, is very specific. It's

35:10

not just a generic name for any

35:12

old God. This is the

35:14

Lord, the God of Israel. And

35:17

so it must be with us in the New

35:19

Testament, as we said, at the name of Jesus,

35:21

every knee shall bow. And Jesus

35:23

then is prophesied in the end of

35:25

this Psalm, verses 13 and 14, which I'll

35:27

read. Let them praise the name

35:29

of the Lord, for his name alone is

35:31

exalted, his majesty is above,

35:34

earth and heaven. He

35:36

has raised up a horn for

35:38

his people, praise for all his

35:40

saints, for the people of

35:42

Israel who are near to him. Praise the

35:44

Lord. And that praise the Lord, by

35:46

the way, is alleluia, a word that we're

35:48

very glad to be singing and saying

35:50

and rejoicing in again. Notice

35:53

Jesus Christ is prophesy here God

35:55

has raised up a horn for

35:57

his people that is a mighty

35:59

strong source of strength and occasion

36:01

for praise and a reason and

36:03

in fact the content of what

36:05

they will be singing and rejoicing

36:07

in That's Jesus Christ and His

36:09

work for our salvation. This is

36:11

raised up for His saints, His

36:13

holy ones. And then this phrase

36:15

is very interesting and a perfect comment on what

36:17

we just heard in Acts. Those

36:19

of Israel who are near

36:21

to Him, remember they're gathered

36:23

around the temple. But

36:26

all the more we're finding out that what

36:28

is really needful is not what you'll find

36:30

in the temple. In fact, those people

36:32

seem to oppose God and His Christ, but

36:34

you'll find it in the Word. You'll find

36:36

it in the apostles and what they're preaching,

36:38

right? Christ is raised up from

36:40

the dead, and now there's a distinction

36:43

in Israel that matters quite a bit. Those

36:45

who are near to Him are those

36:47

who heed His Word, obey His Word, who

36:49

are growing on what He feeds Him

36:51

like we heard in our intro. and

36:53

then acts there outside the temple

36:55

in the portico, not inside the temple,

36:57

plotting yet more murder against Christ's

36:59

disciples. Our epistle is

37:02

a rather rare visit to the

37:04

final book of the Bible, the

37:06

book of Revelation, chapter one, beginning at

37:08

verse four. Yeah, this is unique

37:10

to year C that we're going to hear Revelation for

37:12

the next few weeks. It's a pretty

37:14

short jaunt through the book, unfortunately, but we

37:16

get to hear the opening today and it connects

37:18

quite well with our readings. So here

37:20

it is, beginning at verse four. John,

37:23

to the seven churches that are in

37:25

Asia, graced you in peace from him

37:27

who is and who was and who

37:29

is to come, and from the seven

37:31

spirits who are before his throne and

37:33

from Jesus Christ, the faithful

37:35

witness, the firstborn of the dead, the

37:37

ruler of kings on earth, to

37:40

him who loves us and has freed us

37:42

from our sins by his blood and made

37:44

us a kingdom, priest to his

37:46

god and father, to him be

37:48

glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

37:51

Behold, He's coming with the clouds and every

37:53

eye will see Him, even those who

37:55

pierced Him, and all the tribes

37:57

of earth will wail on account of Him.

37:59

Even so, amen. I

38:01

am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord

38:03

God, who is and who was and who

38:06

is to come, the Almighty. I,

38:08

John, your brother and partner in

38:10

the Tribulation and in the Kingdom, and

38:12

patient endurance that are in Christ

38:14

Jesus, was on the island called Patmos

38:17

on account of the Word of

38:19

God and the testimony of Jesus. I

38:21

was in the Spirit on the

38:23

Lord's Day, and I heard behind me

38:25

a loud voice like a trumpet

38:27

saying, write what you see in a

38:29

book and send it to the

38:31

seven churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum,

38:33

to Thyatira and Sardis, to Philadelphia

38:35

and Laodicea. Then I turned to

38:38

see the voice that was speaking to

38:40

me, and on turning I saw seven golden

38:42

lambstands. And in the midst of the

38:44

lambstands, one like a son of man, clothed

38:46

with a long robe, with a golden

38:48

sash around his chest, the hairs

38:50

of his head were like wool, as

38:52

white as snow, his eyes were like a flame

38:54

of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze,

38:56

refined in a furnace, and his voice was like

38:59

the roar of many waters. In

39:01

his right hand he yelled seven stars,

39:03

and from his mouth came a sharp two

39:05

-edged sword, and his face was

39:07

like the sun shining in full strength. When

39:10

I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

39:12

But he laid his right hand on me,

39:14

saying, Fear not, I am the first

39:17

and the last. I am the living one.

39:19

I died, and behold, I

39:21

am alive forevermore, and I have the

39:23

keys of death and Hades. It's

39:26

so rich this text this introduction

39:28

right we get to hear John what

39:30

he's doing kind of his call

39:32

to write the book of Revelation more

39:34

importantly we get to hear our

39:36

fixation on God, the Father, and His

39:38

Son, Jesus Christ. And it

39:40

is marvelous how the terms and

39:42

the names for Jesus and for the

39:44

Father are almost blended as if

39:46

they're the same. I mean, it emphasizes

39:48

both the distinction of persons and

39:50

the unity of substance that Jesus is

39:52

truly God. Marvelous, right? Look at

39:54

these titles of Christ just briefly. Faithful

39:57

witness, that is, to the Father

39:59

and to His truth. Firstborn

40:01

of the dead, that's the one who brings

40:03

many others with Him in His resurrection, not the

40:05

only one as we heard a couple weeks

40:07

ago. He's ruler of kings, right?

40:09

He is the king of kings.

40:11

He is Lord over all. He's

40:13

the Alpha and the Omega, the

40:15

beginning, the end. He's the almighty one,

40:18

the one who holds the keys to

40:20

death and to Hades. And if he

40:22

has the keys, that means he has

40:24

the power to say, open up, you

40:26

can't be locking anyone in anymore, just

40:28

as we saw his angels release the

40:30

apostles and acts. And he's

40:32

the one most beautifully, perhaps, who frees

40:34

us from our sins by his

40:36

blood. What a wonderful, simple confession of

40:38

who Christ is, the one who

40:41

frees us from our sins by his

40:43

blood. That forgiveness is going to

40:45

be heard later today in the Gospel

40:47

also. And he's the one who is

40:49

king over a whole kingdom of priests. That's

40:51

us, right? So in this introduction,

40:53

we see ourselves, we see the

40:56

whole church in relation to Christ

40:58

Jesus. We got to see kind

41:00

of literally, you might say the

41:02

early church, we are seeing now

41:04

depicted in this revelation imagery, the

41:07

church gathered around Christ Jesus. We

41:09

see that he, not any place in

41:11

Jerusalem, he is the temple. He's

41:13

the high priest. He's the king over

41:15

his subjects. The old then

41:17

is totally passing away when we now look

41:19

at the New Testament church. And

41:22

then we get to hear John's stories.

41:24

We see that with him were partners.

41:26

Great. Partners in what? Well, not so

41:28

great things. Tribulation. And yet

41:30

at the same time in his kingdom also,

41:32

what a comfort to those who are bearing

41:35

some kind of persecution, that this

41:37

is a mark of those who belong to

41:39

Christ, not those who are rejected by Christ. And

41:41

he says that there is a patient

41:44

endurance for those in Jesus Christ. That's

41:46

a phrase that gets repeated a number

41:48

of times in Revelation. We endure in

41:50

Jesus. We grow up into His word.

41:52

Yes, we're going to bear reproach, perhaps

41:54

even imprisonment as we saw in Acts. on

41:57

account of that word and on

41:59

account of the testimony of Jesus. And

42:01

that's what we see here that

42:03

John has been exiled in Patmos on

42:05

account of tribulation that he's faced

42:08

over being a apostle of the word

42:10

of God. Now, really

42:12

a fortuitous reason to choose this

42:14

text today, he mentions to us

42:16

what day he is in the

42:18

Spirit and it's on the Lord's

42:20

day, right? The Lord's Day is

42:22

the day of the Lord's resurrection.

42:25

John is in the Spirit, that is,

42:27

he is growing in the pure spiritual

42:29

milk of the Word of God, like

42:31

a little child. Isn't that the phrase

42:33

John always uses for Christians? And

42:36

it's the Lord's Day. In other

42:38

words, John is at church.

42:40

John is there on a Sunday

42:42

in the New Testament, which is

42:44

throughout the New Testament, the place

42:46

in particular, the day in particular

42:48

that the church gathers. It

42:50

is no different today, nor do I expect

42:52

it ever to change. Now,

42:55

the furnishings in the Lord's temple,

42:57

this kind of vision of them, are

42:59

truly His people. The holy angels

43:01

are there. The seven churches are lampstands

43:03

shining with the Lord's word. And

43:05

Christ, the ancient of days, is

43:07

on His throne at the center. And

43:09

what does Christ, this powerful, this

43:11

almighty King, say? He says, fear not.

43:14

I've died and I am alive evermore

43:16

now. This is a great thing

43:18

to hear. He is the living one.

43:20

With that living, it is important

43:22

that we also confess that he is

43:24

a vivifying God, right? He is

43:26

not only alive for his own sake.

43:28

He is alive to make us

43:30

alive, just in the same way that

43:32

the Holy Spirit is holy, not

43:34

just isolated by himself, but holy in

43:36

order to sanctify us by his

43:38

word. That's why we always want to

43:40

keep growing into it and stick

43:42

close to Christ and his spirit. Pastor

43:45

Sean Denzer is our guest. On

43:47

this Easter Tuesday, we're looking forward

43:50

to Sunday morning. We'll get into

43:52

the gradual, the verse, and then

43:54

our Gospel reading next. In

44:02

1550, Imperial forces

44:04

besieged the German town

44:07

of Magdeburg, seeking

44:09

to re -establish the Roman Catholic faith.

44:11

In response, Magdeburg's Lutheran pastors

44:14

and theologians wrote a treatise

44:16

on justifying resistance to tyrannical

44:18

power called the Magdeburg Confession. The

44:21

Issues Etc. Book of the Month for

44:23

April is a translation of the Magdeburg

44:25

Confession. Learn about this

44:27

new resource at issuesetc

44:29

.org or by calling

44:31

Concordia Publishing House 1 -800

44:33

-325 -3040 The Magdeburg Confession.

44:36

A mobile Lutheran Bible

44:38

study, you're listening to

44:40

Issues Etc. Here's

44:42

an easy way for you

44:44

to help us contend for truth

44:46

in an age of anti -truth.

44:48

Subscribe to the Issues, etc.

44:51

podcast with YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.

44:53

Just type Issues, etc. in

44:55

the YouTube search engine and

44:57

click Subscribe. For Apple

45:00

and Spotify, type Issues, etc.

45:02

in the search engine, hit

45:04

Follow, and leave us a

45:06

5 -star review. Help us inform

45:08

other podcast listeners by subscribing

45:10

to the Issues, etc. podcast

45:12

with YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.

45:35

And the church, in particular, against

45:37

the violence of evil men. These,

45:39

he should restrain by physical power

45:41

and the sword. He should make

45:43

it his greatest concern that people

45:46

are rightly instructed in religion and

45:48

in public and private life encouraged

45:50

toward true piety and honesty. From

45:52

the issues it set are a book of the

45:54

month of April, the Magdeburg

45:56

Confession with historical introductions

45:58

and annotations. You can

46:00

find out more about

46:03

this great resource in history

46:05

at our website, issuztc .org

46:07

or call Concordia Publishing

46:09

House 1 -800 -325 -3040. Pastor

46:12

Sean Denzer is our guest. We're walking through

46:14

the proppers for this coming Sunday. Sean,

46:16

what are the gradual and the verse? Our

46:18

gradual, interesting, the three -year lectionary abandons

46:21

kind of the historic practice of dispensing

46:23

with the gradual after the first Sunday

46:25

in Easter and then expanding the verse.

46:27

It kind of does both. We still

46:29

get a gradual. We have a verse

46:31

that is half the same and then

46:33

we add a second verse to it

46:35

throughout. Our gradual as Christ has

46:37

arisen from the dead, God the Father

46:39

is crowned with glory and honor. He's given

46:42

him dominion over the works of his

46:44

hands. He's put all things under his feet.

46:46

I think that fits so well with

46:48

the assertion that we have to obey this

46:50

guy rather than whatever the Sadducees say

46:52

and certainly that all creation right is either

46:54

glad or perhaps unwilling but brought into

46:57

subjection to him. And then

46:59

our verse, we know that Christ, being raised

47:01

from the dead, will never die again. Death

47:04

has no dominion over

47:06

him anymore. And then the

47:08

key verse, which we'll hear

47:10

about from our Gospel reading, blessed

47:12

are those who have not seen and

47:14

yet believed. This is

47:17

the part of the Gospel that really

47:19

applies to you and me who are

47:21

reading the Bible. Blessed are those

47:23

who believe, and blessed are those who believe

47:25

even without having seen it, right? The

47:27

pure spiritual milk of the Word in

47:29

which the Spirit is active, just like it

47:31

was with John on Patmos, that's what

47:33

gives us the sight that we need to

47:35

be saved. So

47:37

we come to our Gospel reading,

47:40

which is the post -resurrection appearance, at

47:42

least one of them, that is

47:44

found in John's Gospel chapter 20.

47:47

And we really get it twice because our

47:49

hymn of the day, O sons and

47:51

daughters of the king, you can sing it

47:53

either to the German tune or to

47:55

the French tune in Lutheran service book and

47:57

both have their strengths for sure. It

47:59

takes us through this whole story. We don't

48:01

do that with every hymn, by the

48:03

way, only really with the chief events of

48:05

Christ's life like Christmas, Easter. But

48:07

this Sunday is that important, in other

48:09

words, that's what the presence of this

48:11

hymn shows us, right? It sums up

48:14

the whole stated point of John's gospel.

48:16

that he has written these things that

48:18

you may believe. So here

48:20

we have kind of a three -part Gospel reading

48:22

that I hope you can take to heart. I'm

48:24

almost certain it'll be the topic of the sermon,

48:26

even at your church. On the

48:28

evening of that day, the first day

48:30

of the week, if I can comment,

48:32

Easter itself when Christ rose, the

48:35

doors being locked where the disciples were

48:37

for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and

48:39

stood among them and said, peace be

48:41

with you. When He had said this, He

48:43

showed them His hands in His side. And

48:46

then the disciples were glad when they saw the

48:48

Lord. Jesus said to them again,

48:50

Peace be with you, as the Father has

48:52

sent me even so, I am sending you.

48:55

When He had said this, He breathed

48:57

on them and said to them, Receive

48:59

the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the

49:01

sins of anyone, they are forgiven. If

49:03

you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it

49:05

is withheld. Now, Thomas,

49:07

one of the twelve, called the twin, was

49:09

not with them when Jesus came. So the

49:11

other disciples told him, we've seen the Lord,

49:14

but he said to them, unless

49:16

I see the hands in his hands, the

49:18

mark of the nails and place my

49:20

finger into the mark of the nails and

49:22

place my hand into his side, I

49:24

will never believe. Eight

49:27

days later, his disciples were again

49:29

inside and Thomas was with them. Although

49:31

the doors were locked, Jesus came

49:33

and stood among them and said, peace

49:35

be with you. Then he

49:37

said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my

49:39

hands and put out your hand and place it

49:41

into my side. Do not disbelieve

49:43

but believe. Thomas

49:45

answered to my Lord and my God. Jesus

49:48

said to him, have you believed because you've seen

49:50

me? Blessed are those who

49:52

have not seen and yet believed. Now

49:54

Jesus did many other signs in the presence

49:56

of the disciples which are not written in

49:58

this book. But these are

50:00

written so that you may believe that

50:02

Jesus is the Christ, the Son

50:05

of God, and that by believing you

50:07

may have life in His name.

50:09

I must say, this Sunday in particular

50:11

in year C has really put

50:13

these Scripture readings together so well, right?

50:15

That we may have life in

50:17

His name. Remember, that's what the apostles

50:20

were sent into the temple to

50:22

preach, to proclaim this life. And

50:24

likewise, we've got locked doors again, when

50:26

Jesus has the keys not only to

50:28

death and to hell, He's got the

50:30

keys to everything. Although, of course, what

50:32

is miraculous here is he in his

50:34

exalted state is not using any doors

50:36

or windows to come in. He is,

50:38

in fact, just passing through walls. He

50:41

is able to be present with his

50:43

disciples. Nothing can stop him, right? Death itself

50:45

has no dominion over him anymore, as

50:47

we just heard. He

50:49

comes to disciples who are locked

50:51

away for fear. And he comes

50:53

and says, do not be afraid.

50:55

He comes and says, peace be

50:58

with you. He comes and gives

51:00

an absolution to those who had

51:02

sinned against him, abandoned him, betrayed

51:04

him, who had denied him just

51:06

a couple days earlier. And

51:08

he shows them the evidence of

51:10

why this can be true. How

51:12

can there possibly be peace among

51:14

people who have really, you know,

51:16

showed themselves not to be subjects

51:18

of their king, but to be

51:20

traitors? Well, there could be peace

51:22

because of his wounds, because of

51:24

the blood that forgives our sins,

51:26

like John spoke of there in

51:28

that great revelation reading, right? He

51:31

shows them his wounds. Then... the

51:33

disciples are glad, right? It's the same

51:35

for us. When we hear about

51:37

the blood of Christ, when we see

51:39

a picture of the crucifix, right,

51:41

we aren't confused and think that Jesus

51:43

is still dead or something. We

51:45

aren't confused and think that we are

51:47

morose people or that the resurrection

51:49

isn't here. We are glad because it's

51:51

the very same Lord who offered

51:53

Himself as a sacrifice for the world's

51:55

sins, who now is risen and

51:57

reigns to all eternity. And in Him,

52:00

we love to be close to

52:02

Him. Now, beautifully, this peace

52:04

that comes to those who, of

52:06

course, most intimately abandoned and betrayed

52:08

him, yet they are forgiven. is

52:11

now they are forgiven and sent out

52:13

with the same mission that Christ had

52:15

to deliver the forgiveness of sins that

52:17

Jesus by his death has won. The

52:19

Holy Spirit is given to them. You

52:21

can almost see this similar to Isaiah's

52:23

call. Here they are. The

52:25

Lord is sending them to speak the

52:27

forgiveness of sins. I won't belabor

52:30

it, but our listeners know the Catechism,

52:32

which is based entirely on these passages

52:34

here about if you forgive anyone their

52:36

sins and if you withhold forgiveness, a

52:38

sermon on the office of the key.

52:40

would be very appropriate and typical for

52:42

this day. Just one of the reasons

52:44

you don't want to miss Sunday, well,

52:47

like Thomas does, right? So

52:49

as we go on to the story,

52:51

we hear about Thomas, the one who is

52:53

missing and the one who is resisted.

52:55

He wants to see it. It's actually going

52:57

to be important that he see it

52:59

since he is one of the eyewitnesses to

53:01

Christ Jesus. That's exactly what Peter gives

53:03

as a defense to the Sanhedrin. We're the

53:05

witnesses to these things. We have to

53:07

testify. We have to tell the truth. Thomas

53:10

needs to have that opportunity, but you can

53:12

see that he's not believing, right? I'll never believe

53:14

what a horrible thing to say. But

53:16

eight days later, that is inclusive

53:18

counting, the next Sunday,

53:21

everybody's back. Thomas is

53:23

not missing church this time. Don't

53:25

you miss church either? And

53:27

Jesus is again with them, again, bringing

53:29

his peace. This is just simply so

53:31

instructive to us that the Lord brings

53:33

His peace all the time, even if

53:35

we've been recalcitrant, even if we've been

53:37

unbelieving, even if we said, I don't

53:39

want to go to church, and then

53:41

somebody drags us along. That's why how

53:44

often have you found it that you

53:46

didn't want to go and somebody compelled

53:48

you, then it turned out you heard

53:50

exactly what you needed to hear. This

53:52

will always be the case. The Lord's

53:54

Spirit is at work in His Word.

53:56

Let's cling to it and grow up

53:58

into it. Of course, the Lord challenges

54:00

Thomas right here. You said you wanted

54:02

to touch everything. Go for it. I

54:04

want you to believe in me. What

54:06

a delightful thing that the Lord actually

54:08

does want us to believe. Thomas,

54:10

of course, gives his confession. Yes, this

54:12

is my Lord, the Lord of the Old

54:14

Testament we've been singing about in our souls.

54:16

He is also the true God and he

54:19

is living and alive. Then

54:21

Jesus speaks about you and me. This doesn't

54:23

happen that much in the Bible, but

54:25

it's true right here for sure. Blessed are

54:27

all those who still believe even if

54:29

they haven't seen. You don't have to have

54:31

lived at the time of Jesus to

54:33

be saved. You do need

54:35

to believe the testimony of those

54:37

eyewitnesses. And John then speaks

54:39

the eyewitness statement. Why have I written

54:41

what I've written? Why has the

54:44

Holy Spirit inspired me to compose this

54:46

gospel that you may believe that

54:48

Jesus is the Christ and the Son

54:50

of God? Risen who defeated death

54:52

and therefore that by believing in him

54:54

you may have life in his

54:56

name also That's what the forgiveness of

54:58

sins is the kernel of and

55:00

that is what is being showered on

55:02

us every single Lord's day Weekend

55:04

week out. And so if there's one

55:07

final message today, I mean, I

55:09

know you say it all the time

55:11

Todd on issues, etc Go to

55:13

church here and receive the great gifts

55:15

that Christ has for you I

55:17

love this Sunday, and I hope that

55:19

nobody misses it again. With

55:21

only a minute, you mentioned Osons and Daughters of

55:24

the King. What would you say about that? Well,

55:26

I just think it's a really

55:28

delightful song. In either version, it's

55:30

just rife with all sorts of

55:32

alleluias. It's a pretty simple kind

55:34

of three -phrase pattern, and it

55:36

tells the story. It emphasizes the

55:38

forgiveness of sins. It talks about

55:40

Easter evening. It rejoices that our

55:42

Lord is risen from the dead,

55:44

and it talks about Thomas' great

55:46

turning around and gives us a

55:48

confession also. Maybe just one

55:51

note is, we are the sons and

55:53

the daughters of the king. And

55:55

we've seen that phrase a couple times

55:57

already. We are the benefactors, the

55:59

heirs of Christ Jesus. We're the ones

56:01

who love Him. So when

56:03

anybody tells you, come to church, don't miss the

56:05

divine service, it's not as if it's some kind

56:07

of law. It's not as if they're trying

56:09

to lock you in prison. They're

56:11

urging you to seek something that

56:13

is nourishing and life -giving, you

56:16

know, like a child looking for

56:18

the bottle or looking for mommy. We

56:20

should be delighting in this and

56:22

growing in this all the time. So

56:24

I hope you love this Sunday

56:26

as much as I do. And I

56:28

hope this broadcast has helped you

56:30

to appreciate Quasimodo Geniti Sunday, the

56:32

second Sunday of Easter. Pastor

56:35

Sean Denters, Director of Worship for the

56:37

Lutheran Church of Missouri Synod. Sean, thanks.

56:40

Christ is risen. He

56:42

is risen indeed, hallelujah. In

56:44

the next hour, we'll study the hymn at

56:46

the Lamb's high feast we sing with Dr.

56:48

Arthur Just to concord the theological seminary Fort

56:50

Wayne, Indiana. Jesus proves to

56:52

his disciples that he is not a ghost,

56:54

that he is the risen Christ. He

56:57

bestows upon them the Holy

56:59

Spirit and commands them to

57:01

forgive as he has forgiven.

57:04

You're connected to issues, et cetera. I'm

57:06

Todd Wilkin. Listen

57:13

weekday afternoons to Pastor Todd

57:15

Wilkin and guests on issues, etc.

57:18

Issues, etc. is a listener -supported

57:20

program. Your financial support is

57:22

vital for the continuation and expansion

57:24

of this worldwide outreach. Our

57:27

mailing address, issues, etc. Heal

57:29

Box 83, Collinsville, Illinois,

57:32

62234. Box

57:34

83, Collinsville, Illinois,

57:36

62234. You

57:38

can also donate at

57:40

our website, issuesetc .org. Issues,

57:43

etc., is a production of

57:45

LPR, Lutheran Public Radio.